Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chilongguan is only the headquarters of the Huohaier Cult. Several surrounding villages have their secret missionary locations, and they are all located in the homes of wealthy families.

They are said to be wealthy households, but in fact they are just some small and medium-sized landowners.

Faced with the heavy taxes and heavy servitude imposed by the imperial court, only large landowners in Shandong can survive. Small and medium-sized landowners have extremely poor ability to withstand risks. If they are not careful, they will be ruined.

These small and medium-sized landowners inevitably feel precarious and are easily attracted to the theories of evil cults. By joining the demon sect, they can firstly gain spiritual comfort, secondly, they can use the demonic sect to fight against the tyranny of the government, and thirdly, they can use the demonic sect to seek financial benefits.

Shi Yuangong wrote down all the strongholds and contact persons and handed them to Ju Ming. He also confessed: "There are also two missionary bases in Puzhou City. In Anding Town, Fan County, He Shen... He Yaoren's top disciple They are preaching. They plan to establish a foothold in Anding Town, then develop to Zhukou Town in Yunzhou, and finally set up a branch in Yanggu County."

Zhu Ming ordered: "Bai Sheng and Zhang Bor, you each take twenty-five people to raid the demon sect's dens in nearby villages. Deng Chun and Li Bao, you each take twenty people to wipe out the dens in Puzhou City and capture When the person is found, he will be transferred to the state court for trial, and then he will go to Anding Town to arrest the person without stopping!"

"yes!"

The four of them took the order and left. Although it was almost dark, they took action immediately regardless of their fatigue.

The archers and armor soldiers had no objection to this, because the governor promised a reward.

Ju Ming took the remaining people and waited in the Red Dragon Temple to sort out the seized demon books, money and food. There is not much money and food in the temple, and it has been secretly transferred. He Shenxian built a mansion in another village, and kept all the money and food there, and also had a lot of wives, concubines, and children.

Shi Yuangong said in a low voice: "If the prefect uses Jingdong Road as the foundation, he should first occupy Yunzhou and Jezhou, establish a navy in Liangshan Po, and cut off the water transportation of the Guangji River. As long as the navy has a firm foundation, along the four rivers, We can collect Qizhou in the north, go to Xuzhou in the south, skip Yanzhou in the east, and go straight to Tokyo in the west!"

Ju Ming sneered: "Do you think you are a genius and the reincarnation of Zhuge Kongming?"

"Don't dare," Shi Yuangong couldn't wait to show off, and continued to talk blindly, "As long as you capture Yan and Xu, you can build military armor. If you capture Qing, Deng, and Lai, you will have sufficient military resources and no worries. Yan, The five states of Xu, Qing, Deng, and Lai will definitely be able to recruit hundreds of thousands of troops!"

Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and Xiangzhou were the three major iron smelting bases in the Northern Song Dynasty, two of which were in Shandong. Xuzhou, Yunzhou, and Qingzhou were the main weapons suppliers in the Northern Song Dynasty.

It goes without saying that Qingzhou, Dengzhou and Laizhou produce salt.

In addition, Dengzhou and Laizhou are also rich in gold. During the Yuanfeng period, gold output once reached 89.5% of the country's total output.

The more developed the smelting and mining industry is, the easier it is to recruit high-quality soldiers, because the relevant practitioners live in hardship and at the same time have extremely high discipline and collective consciousness!

Ju Ming glared at this guy: "If you dare to say anything rebellious again, I will hand you over to the state court! What is Ben Shou's background? The third person in the palace examination, Tan Hwa Lang, was a court official who knew the state under the age of twenty. His brain was kicked by a donkey. Will you rebel?"

Shi Yuangong was startled, yes, how could such a person rebel?

But Ju Ming's previous performance was like an ambitious person.

Shi Yuangong was confused and couldn't guess Ju Ming's true thoughts at all, and he was even more worried about his own fate. What if Ju Ming takes full advantage of him and throws him to beheaded?

Let's put it this way, even if Shi Yuangong immediately ran to Tokyo and accused Ju Ming of treason to Cai Jing, Cai Jing would drive him out. Even a fool would not believe that Tan Hwa Lang, a young and successful young man, conspired to rebel. It could not even be used as an excuse for political criticism.

Zhu Ming frightened the man and then comforted him by saying, "Remember, you were bewitched by the demon named He and joined the demon cult in a daze. After joining the cult, you saw the true nature of the demon and secretly reported its illegal activities and cooperated with the magistrate. Catch those demons. You have already served your crime and can be exempted from punishment."

"I remember." Shi Yuangong was ecstatic when he heard this. He was finally able to save his life.

Zhu Ming added: "The abbot of Huangtingguan is the senior brother of the abbot of Chilongguan. You often see them communicating secretly."

Shi Yuangong said: "The prefect knows everything clearly. It is true."

That night, Bai Sheng and Zhang Bor destroyed several missionary dens one after another and sealed He Shenxian's mansion.

There were even two dens. When they went to arrest people, they happened to encounter a night lecture and detained more than a hundred believers on the spot.

"Except for the leader, all the other believers will be released," Ju Ming said to Shi Yuangong. "Go and tell those believers that Huo Boyer and True Lord Red Dragon are all made up, and ask them not to believe it again. If next time If he is caught again, he will be exiled for three thousand miles."

"Yes!" Shi Yuangong immediately went to promote the law.

After counting the seized materials, it was found that gold, silver and copper coins were worth more than 10,000 yuan. It's not a lot, mainly building Taoist temples and mansions, which has already spent a lot of money - the demon mansions can be auctioned off.

There are also more than a thousand kilograms of food, most of which are donated by ordinary believers, and some of which are collected from rent.

There are also some pieces of cloth of various colors.

Then, they went to inspect the homes of wealthy religious households, most of whom were small bosses, and confiscated thousands of pounds of money. (These small and medium-sized landowners are so poor!)

Ju Ming rewarded each archer with a guan of money, and if he was successful in arresting and searching, he would be rewarded with an additional guan.

The rewards were distributed immediately, and morale instantly increased. Because there is no danger in this trip, but it is a bit hard to catch people overnight, so it is a good deal to receive the reward this way.

I can't wait to follow the prefect for more votes!

When Shi Yuangong finished his legal propaganda, Ju Ming called him over and asked, "Are you familiar with the villages nearby?"

Shi Yuangong said: "Very familiar."

Ju Ming said: "The land occupied by the evil spirits will be divided among the tenant farmers. You can register it and I will take it back to the county government to change the household registration."

Shi Yuangong reminded: "I'm afraid the tenants won't appreciate the prefect's kindness."

"Why don't you want to give them land?" Zhu Ming asked.

Shi Yuangong said: "If you have land in your name, you are the owner. If the owner is poor, he will go bankrupt within one or two years. It is better to be a customer and depend on others."

Zhu Ming was silent after hearing this.

Not only do those tenants have no permanent property, they are also likely to owe usurious loans to their landlords. Even if you don't owe any debts, once you become the main owner, the taxes and servitude will increase. If you encounter a slight accident, you will be declared bankrupt in a minute.

Not all will be well just by dividing the land. Taxes and servitude must be reduced and low-interest loans must be provided to them. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the tenants who have just received their land to survive.

After thinking about it, there was no good solution. Ju Ming could only sigh and said: "Sell the captured land to local wealthy households at a low price."

Shi Yuangong said: "Local wealthy households, most of whom are demon sect leaders, have been captured by the prefect."

"Then we should allocate the land to the tenants and give each household eight dou of grain. If they go bankrupt next year, they will find a buyer to sell the land!" Zhu Ming was quite depressed.

"Yes." Shi Yuangong couldn't think of a better way.

This is determined by the general environment. The burden on Shandong farmers is too heavy, and even Zhizhou cannot reverse the situation.

The matter of dividing the fields was delayed for several days, and Ju Ming finally returned to the city with the demon, money, grain, and cloth.

After moving all the demons to the prefectural prison, Huang Yaoshi said with emotion: "Working with the prefect, you really don't have half a day to spare. The previous prisoners have not finished interrogating, but this time many more have been arrested. If this continues, the prefectural prison will be overcrowded. ”

Zhu Ming pointed at Shi Yuangong: "This man is a scholar from Puzhou who accidentally entered the demon sect and is very familiar with those demon ways. He secretly reported and exposed, but he will not be punished. During the trial, he can also be asked to help. It will be much easier.”

Huang Guinian glanced at Shi Yuangong, and Shi Yuangong quickly bowed to please him.

All the money, grain and cloth seized this time were put into the state government's public treasury, and Ju Ming himself did not take any of it.

Seeing the empty public treasury with money coming in, Tongfan Tian Ruyong smiled brightly. He went to Ju Ming privately and said, "According to the custom, the magistrates and prefecture judges can use the money from the public treasury. Why don't you and I split a few thousand guans first and leave the rest?" The money I saved is enough to use for office work.”

Zhu Ming said: "Most of the state and county officials are former officials of the Li family, and the Cai Party is obstructing them. This year's autumn grain may not be collected in full. How can this amount of money and grain be enough? Junruo is short of money. You can take five hundred strings first."

"Five hundred coins... is fine, it's better than nothing." Tian Ruyong actually went to get the money.

Ju Ming's face turned black with anger. What the hell is this? This guy really has the nerve to reach out to seize the money seized by Demon Dao himself.

If he had not joined forces with Tian Ruyong to deal with Cai Dang and the Li family, Ju Ming would have turned against him immediately.

After withdrawing 500 guan, Tian Ruyong sent someone to carry it home, and then ran to find Ju Ming: "Maybe there are still demons that have not been caught. We can send archers to arrest them."

Tian Ruyong's intention was very clear. He took the opportunity to extort money from a big business, and if anyone didn't pay obediently, he would be framed for harboring a monster.

Ju Ming smiled and said: "Of course there are demons, I will take action in two days."

Ju Ming also wanted to frame him, but the target was not the big family, but the Taoist priests in Huang Tingguan.

Tian Ruyong misunderstood and said excitedly: "I will lead people to arrest him together with the prefect!"

"Okay, please cooperate with the judge when the time comes." Zhu Ming smiled and pulled Tian Ruyong into the water, and went to arrest the Taoist priests together, and offended Wang Laozhi together.

Ju Ming's move to annihilate the demon cult was beyond everyone's expectations.

Yao Guangshu called the archers who participated in the operation: "Aren't you going to Leize County to suppress bandits?"

The archer said: "I was going to Leize County. I met a demon on the way, so I changed my mind to annihilating the demon sect."

"After destroying the demon cult, why not continue to suppress the bandits?" Yao Guangshu asked.

The archer said, "I don't know either."

Yao Guangshu's head hurt thinking about sending away the archers, and he couldn't figure out what Ju Ming was going to do. This magistrate did not act according to common sense every time he did things.

Far away in Leize County, horse bandit Xu Er has been waiting for many days.

He sent out minions to inquire about the news and even selected the location for the ambush. After waiting for a while, he heard the news that Zhizhou had annihilated the demons, so he didn't go to Leize County at all.

As for the Taoist priests in Huangtingguan, they had no reaction to Ju Ming's actions.

Because they are serious Taoist priests and have nothing to do with the demon sect. They are just secretly recruiting thieves and taking advantage of the opportunity to occupy surrounding lands.

In fact, Ju Ming also had a headache. The Shandong side was too complicated, with government officials, wealthy families, Taoist priests, demons, thieves... it was a mess. It was difficult to sort out the mess. The Hanzhong side was simpler and more pure.

(Thanks to the leader of Ai Ai Feng Zhong Yu Fan for the reward, O(∩_∩)O~~)